Understanding Pointing for Workspace Tasks on Large High-Resolution Displays

Abstract

Navigating on large high-resolution displays (LHRDs) using devices built for traditional desktop computers can be strenuous and negatively impact user experience. As LHRDs transition to everyday use, new user-friendly interaction techniques need to be designed to capitalise on the potential offered by the abundant screen space on LHRDs. We conducted a study which compared mouse pointing and eye-tracker assisted pointing (MAGIC pointing) on LHRDs. In a controlled experiment with 35 participants, we investigated user performance in a one-dimensional pointing task and a map-based search task. We determined that MAGIC pointing had a lower throughput, but participants had the perception of higher performance. Our work contributes insights for the design of pointing techniques for LHRDs. The results indicate that the choice of technique is scenario-dependent which contrasts with desktop computers.